"The Fleet That Came To Stay." Photographed by
USN, USMC and USCG photographers during WWII, it shows the bombing of Okinawa in
preparation for invasion by 100,000 U.S. Marine Corps and Army troops. 400,000
U.S. personnel were off Okinawa on 1,400 ships. Scenes of Task Force 58 ships
waiting for D-day also include many kamikaze attacks by Japanese aircraft, of
which 4,232 were destroyed.

An A-4E Skyhawk flown by the VA-212 "Rampant Raiders" from the USS Hancock
(CVA-19) on tactical sorties against North Vietnamese military and logistics
targets during Operation Freedom Train in 1972

The
ship was the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for John
Hancock, president of the Second Continental Congress and first governor of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

USS HANCOCK was one of the ESSEX - class aircraft carriers. Originally named
TICONDEROGA, the carrier was renamed HANCOCK on May 1, 1943, becoming the fourth
ship in the Navy to bear the name